Senate Passes Final Tranche of Funding Bills, Completing FY24 Appropriations Process

WASHINGTON — On Friday, after the House passed a package of the remaining six Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 spending bills by a bipartisan vote of 286 to 134, the Senate took it up and passed it with wide support by a margin of 74 to 24. After voting in favor of the final tranche of funding bills, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) released the following statement:

“Six months after the end of the fiscal year, Congress finally reached the finish line and successfully avoided a government shutdown,” said Cramer. “While it took us a lot longer to get this done than it should have, we have made significant progress toward a more open, transparent process, and we stayed within the spending limits of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. This final package is imperfect, but appropriates funding critical for national security and defense, including our defense ecosystem across the state.”

This $1.2 trillion appropriations minibus includes $825 billion for the U.S. Department of Defense, $62 billion for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and funds several key agencies and programs pertaining to financial services, labor, health and human services, and education.

Below is a breakdown of toplines included in the final six FY24 appropriations bills, supporting both North Dakota and the country.

Department of Defense and State Department:

• Funds Department of Defense at $824.485 billion, nearly $27 billion (3.4%) above the FY23 level.
• Fully funds the 5.2% pay raise for servicemembers— the largest pay raise for the military in 20 years, and the largest increase for civilians in 40 years. The bill also includes a 5.4% increase in Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH).
• Fully funds the Sentinel program to replace the Minuteman III Ground Based Strategic Deterrent development that will be based at Minot Air Force Base (AFB), consistent with the FY2024 NDAA, which Senator Cramer helped write and pass as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
• Fully funds seven Air Force MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters. These aircraft will eventually go to Minot Air Force Base to replace the UH-1s. Last August, Senator Cramer attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Minot for a new facility to house the aircraft. 
• Maintains the prohibition on the retirement of Global Hawks as established in the FY2024 NDAA and provides critical funding for the development and deployment of Air Force intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions at Grand Forks AFB.
• Reaffirms the United States’ commitment to Israel, fully funding our annual security commitment of $3.3 billion, prohibiting any taxpayer funding from going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and eliminating funding for the United Nations Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
• Directs the Secretary of Defense to prioritize the delivery of defense articles and services to Taiwan and provides them with $300 million in Foreign Military Financing.
• Provides $33.7 billion for Navy shipbuilding and blocks the premature retirement of ships, resulting in six more ships than President Biden requested. Senator Cramer, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Seapower, criticized the administration’s cuts to the naval fleet and highlighted the importance of advancing American capabilities, underscoring the evolving threat of China.
• Prohibits funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
• Cuts $574 million of the administration’s wasteful climate change programs.
• Allows only the American flag and other official flags to be flown over U.S diplomatic facilities.
• Cuts $50.5 million from diversity and inclusion programs from the President’s Budget Request.
• Eligible funding for University of North Dakota (UND): $8 million for defense resiliency against extreme cold weather research and $3.5 million for fast-refueling fuel cell engine research.
• Eligible funding for North Dakota State University (NDSU): Funds $5 million for innovative design and manufacturing of advanced composites/multi material protective systems research, $3 million for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fellowships for the National Defense Education Program, and $10 million for mobility materials research.
• $8 million for peer-reviewed tuberous sclerosis complex medical research. Senator Cramer led a bipartisan request to fund research into this rare disease.
• $30 million for peer-reviewed toxic exposures medical research.
• $20 million for Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). Previous DEPSCoR grant awards have gone to UND for “An ecosystem for high performance defense sensitive materials research at University of North Dakota.”
• $53 million for STARBASE. STARBASE is a premier educational program where students participate in challenging “hands-on, minds-on” activities in STEM. Minot AFB has a strong STARBASE program. 
• $50 million for Impact Aid, which provides financial assistance to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) impacted by the presence of military dependent students. The bill also includes $20 million for Impact Aid for Children with disabilities.

Homeland Security:

• Funds the Department of Homeland Security at $61.840 billion.
• Provides $19.619 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an increase of more than $3 billion above the President’s request.

• This includes $496 million for hiring 22,000 Border Patrol Agents. This figure is consistent with what was allocated under H.R. 2., representing the highest level ever funded.

• Decreases funding for Shelter and Services Program by 19% from FY2023 levels.
• $283.5 million dedicated to new border security technology and restores $103.4 million in shortfalls to existing border security technology like Autonomous Security Towers and cross-border tunnel detection.
• Fully Funds Border Patrol Overtime Pay, which was adopted as part of FY2024 NDAA.

• $125 million specifically for increases to Border Patrol overtime pay, ensuring agents are compensated for extended duty hours necessary to maintain border security.

• $3.435 billion for ICE custody operations, the highest ever appropriated. This funding ensures the capacity to detain and process individuals who enter the U.S. illegally. Funds a detention bed level of 41,500, which is consistent with H.R. 2 and 7,500 above the FY2023 level, and 16,500 above the President’s Budget Request.
• $721 million to deport illegal immigrants with final orders of removal, $300 million above FY2023 levels.
• $348 million investment in equipment to combat drug trafficking and detect fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics at ports of entry.
• $9.6 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an increase of $1.2 billion above the President’s request.
• $12.9 billion allocated to support the Coast Guard’s domestic and overseas missions.

• The bill fully funds the pay raise for Coast Guard military employees and supports critical arctic investments for another Offshore Patrol Cutter and two additional Fast Response Cutters.

• Rejects efforts to establish a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Office.
• Maintains longstanding, bipartisan riders, including: a prohibition on the hiring of illegal aliens, prohibiting Federal Law Enforcement from transferring firearms to individuals if they are suspected of being an agent of a drug cartel, blocks implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty unless ratified by the Senate, and bars bringing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to U.S. soil.
• $25.5 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts across the nation.
• $20.3 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund, which is essential for supporting FEMA’s response to natural disasters and emergency situations, facilitating immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts.

Financial Services:

• Freezes the IRS Budget at $12.3 billion while rescinding $10.2 billion from the partisan Inflation Reduction Act’s funding for 85,000 new IRS agents.
• Prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recent efforts to ban gas stoves.
• $299 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), which is $8.4 million more than the President’s request. This program coordinates and assists federal, state, local, and Tribal law agencies to confront drug threats and reduce trafficking and production in the United States. Senator Cramer requested funding for this program be prioritized.
• Fully funds the SBA’s Veterans Certification program to certify Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses at $20.5 million. UND is home to a Veterans Business Outreach Center serving both and North and South Dakota. 
• $21 million for Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
• Includes language requiring agencies to report to Congress on federal employees in office attendance and metrics for measuring their productivity levels when teleworking.
• Includes language requiring agencies to report to Congress on their efforts to reduce underutilized office space. In March, Senator Cramer introduced bipartisan legislation to save taxpayer money by streamlining the process to dispose of unneeded federal buildings, land, and structures.

Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, & Education

• Maintains conservative legacy riders, such as Hyde and Hyde-Weldon, needle exchange prohibition, and the ban on National Labor Relations Board electronic voting.
• The bill increases funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by $300 million, including $120 million increase for the National Cancer Institute and $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias research. 

• North Dakota Impact: In FY23, North Dakota entities received nearly $27 million in NIH Grant dollars. This includes $18.8 million for the University of North Dakota, $4.8 million for North Dakota State University, and $3.1 million for Sanford Research for health research programs. One such FY23 project includes: $3 million NIH grant awarded to NDSU to examine therapeutic strategies to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

• Secures funding increases to support critical health research programs including for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Cancer, Diabetes and Mental Health programs. 
• Secures funding increases for rural emergency services through Supporting and Improving Rural EMS Needs (SIREN) grant program.
• Secures report language encouraging an expanded, evidence-based response, to opioid and substance use disorder treatment in rural America.
• Secures language reauthorizing the Conrad 30 Program for physicians practicing in rural and underserved areas.
• Secures funding and report language to better support rare disease research for Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy.
• Secures funding to advance programmatic activities and research related to Assistive Technology, Tourette Syndrome, and Autism.
• Secures continued funding for the State Grants for Assistive Technology program, which furnishes technology devices to individuals with disabilities to support their daily living activities and promote independence. 
• Provides $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) formula grants. In FY2023, North Dakota received $5.2 million.
• $285 million to support Department of Labor’s (DOL) Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program. Includes specific language to address the nationwide shortage of water and wastewater operators, particularly in rural areas.
• Provides $65 million in funding for U.S. DOL’s Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants. In 2022, the Bismarck State College received a $1.6 million grant from this program to expand educational opportunities in manufacturing and healthcare career pathways.
• $1.44 billion for Career and Technical Education State Grants, an increase of $10 million.
• $52 million for the Adoption Opportunities Program, an increase of $2 million, as well as language on reporting evidence-based standards. This program helps eliminate barriers to adoption and find families for children, particularly those with special needs. The bill also includes $1 million in new funding for adoption-sensitive training for health care staff. As an adoptive father himself, Senator Cramer serves as the Co-Chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption (CCA), which is the largest bicameral, bipartisan caucus in Congress.
• Tribal Colleges & Universities (TCUs): $52 million, an increase of $300,000 compared to FY23.
• Includes a new funding prohibition on increasing the number of Biden Administration political appointees at the Department of Education.
• $1.19 billion for TRIO, a program dedicated to helping college students complete their college degree.
• $43 million for University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities.
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): $14.2 billion for IDEA Grants to States, an increase of $20 million.
• Charter School Program funding is maintained at $440 million and new bill language included to increase flexibility within the program to meet the needs of the sector.

Flood Insurance: Reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program through the fiscal year and includes $239 million for the National Flood Insurance Fund, consistent with the budget request.